Resident Research Preparation Lecture Series Alexander Villafranca BESS

Resident Research Preparation Lecture Series Alexander Villafranca, BESS, MSc. Lecture 5 - Proposing a research study Part 2 - research integrity Page 1

Steps to a successful resident research project Lecture 1 - Starting Lecture 2 - Planning Lecture 3 & 4 - Designing Lecture 5 - Proposing Lecture 6 - Conducting Lecture 7 - Analyzing Lecture 8 - Reporting Page 2

Objectives • “What is research integrity, and why does it matter to me? ” • “How do I ensure that my research upholds scientific integrity? ” • “How do I avoid accusations of plagiarism and scientific misconduct? ” Page 3

Research integrity What it is • A field of inquiry • Part normative/philosophical (what ought to be) – defining how scientific research should be done to reduce false inferences, and maximize progress, while remaining ethical • Part empirical (what is) – Comparing how science is being done with how it should be done Page 4

Why research integrity matters • Poor research leads to incorrect or irrelevant inferences • Also leads to wasted time and resources (chasing down false leads, slowing down good research) • Puts research participants at risk for no good reason • May ultimately harm patients by – delaying discovery of efficacious treatments – Resulting in policy changes that don’t promote patient safety Page 5

Approaches to increasing research integrity • Follow principles (Singapore statement): – “Honesty in all aspects of research” – “Accountability in the conduct of research” – “Professional courtesy and fairness in working with others” – “Good stewardship of research on behalf of others” • Emulate examples of good science/scientists • Be aware of types of scientific misconduct, and avoid them Page 6

Q: What behaviors are considered scientific misconduct (leading to violations of research integrity)? Page 7

Types of scientific misconduct (commonly acknowledged) Category Definition Less considered examples Data fabrication Creating data to get the results you want, or to make up for crummy data collection Includes unreported and/or unjustifiable methods of replacing missing data (e. g. picking a replacement number off the top of your head) Data falsification Plagiarism Altering/removing data points to get the results you want, to make up for crummy data collection, or to avoid dealing with outliers passing off the ideas and/or words of others as your own Includes unreported and/or unjustified exclusion or modification of outliers Includes copying sentence fragments without quotes, not citing a paraphrased idea Page 8

Types of scientific misconduct (less acknowledged) Auto-Plagiarism Authorship mis-representation Bias Publishing the same work in multiple places Giving credit where it is NOT due And Not giving credit where it IS due Already discussed in lecture 3 Includes reusing large amounts of your own work in a subsequent work Includes slight misrepresentations of what an author contributed to the study within journal attestation statements Includes conflicts of interest Page 9

Types of scientific misconduct (less acknowledged) Data suppression Not publishing results of a study because it didn’t support the hypothesis you wanted Unfair and unjust treatment of other researchers Generally being a jerk to other researchers -Slowing down peer review process -Disrupting research of others without justification Misrepresentation of expertise Talking to media or public as an expert in an unrelated field Salami Slicing Splitting a project into many barely publishable subprojects to maximize your publication number Page 10

Q: What could lead someone to scientific misconduct? Page 11

Why does misconduct happen? • • Often not malicious Competition Pressure to produce/publish Laziness – not wanting to take the time to deal with outliers, missing data, or look up references • Ignorance – not knowing how to analyze data properly, not knowing difference between quoting and paraphrasing • Bias/ conflict of interest • Departmental politics (authorship issues) Page 12

Q: How can we avoid accusations of plagiarism? Page 13

Avoiding accusations of plagiarism • Cite all sources • Know the difference between: – Summarizing- combining key ideas from the works of another person, without using their words – Paraphrasing- give a point by point rundown of a work, or sections of it, without using their words – Quoting- Reporting a persons exact words (verbatim), or tweaking the wording slightly • Always put verbatim word series (not just sentences) in quotes • If ESL, ask supervisor or student services for help with grammar and spelling if needed Page 14

Avoiding accusations of plagiarism (2) • Screen your manuscript with plagiarism detection software – E. g. http: //plagiarisma. net/ http: //www. plagscan. com/ • Keep consecutive copies of written works as they are modified (keep paper trail), don’t just overwrite the same file (Student Advocacy office, 2012) • Don’t submit the same work (or large parts of it) to multiple journals • Keep quotation/paraphrasing log to avoid having to search for the origin of a particular idea afterwards (student guide, 2012) Page 15

Q: How do we avoid accusations of other forms of scientific misconduct? Page 16

Avoiding other accusations of scientific misconduct • Write down steps in data scrubbing/data analysis (manually or in programming code) • Don’t say that you did something that you didn’t: – if reanalysis is demanded in revision process, you must also redo the same outlier, missing data, and model assumption tests • Report & justify how you dealt with outliers and missing data • Revisit lecture 3 for guidelines on how to avoid bias Page 17

Summary (1) • Research integrity ensures that science is done in a way that results in correct inferences, while remaining ethical • Avoiding scientific misconduct is a good strategy to ensure research integrity • Scientific misconduct extends beyond egregious data fabrication and falsification • Includes insidious areas: bias insertion, including mishandling of outliers & missing data Page 18

Summary (2) • Onus is on you to prevent and fend off accusations of plagiarism & scientific misconduct • Record keeping is one of the best ways to defend yourself against accusations • Screen manuscripts & proposals with plagiarism detection software, esp. if multiple authors Page 19

Questions? Page 20

Sources & further reading • Singapore statement on research integrity www. singaporestatement. org/statement. html • Shafer, SL (2011). “You will be caught” Anesth Analg. Mar; 112(3): 491 -3 • Student Advocacy office (2012) “Student conduct: Your rights and responsibilities”, Student services, University of Manitoba. • Student Guide 2012/2013. “How to avoid plagiarism”, University of Manitoba. Page 21